


I've got you etched on my skin

by soulhead



Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: Being in love with your coworker, M/M, Reunion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-21
Updated: 2020-02-21
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:20:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,893
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22832422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soulhead/pseuds/soulhead
Summary: A plaintive growl escapes his mouth as he remembers the goal he had set himself to accomplish at the beginning of this winter break : to distract himself enough so he could grow out of the embarrassing crush he had nursed on his teammate for the entirety of the past year.Or, Lando really needs to stop overthinking about Carlos and his relationship.
Relationships: Lando Norris/Carlos Sainz Jr
Comments: 4
Kudos: 71





	I've got you etched on my skin

The sun is just starting to filter through the blinds of his room when Lando is roused awake by his alarm clock. After a brief moment of disorientation, he reaches blindly for his phone. As its screen light up, he's reminded of today's date. It's the 13th February ! _Finally_ , he thinks, the unofficial start of the season and the beginning of another year working as a teammate to Carlos _._

_To Carlos :_  
Ready to endure seeing my ugly mug today ?  
 _Today, 7:32 PM_

  
  


_From Carlos :_  
I'm more than ready !!We have so much catching up to do !

This winter break dragged on for too long anyway  
 _Today, 7:33 PM_

Not trusting his sleep addled brain to hide the eagerness that is coursing through his entire body, Lando lays his phone on his nightstand after a few minute spent wondering how he could answer Carlos text.

The month and a half he spent without seeing his teammate has been a strange one, he ponders as he reluctantly exits the warmth of his duvet to dress up.

His eyes feels gritty no matter how many time he tries to rub the sleep away of them for the fifth time in a few minutes. God, why did he accepts to schedule a photoshoot for their new racing suit this early in the morning ?

On autopilot, he puts on his shirt and trousers and goes to the kitchen to prepare his breakfast. As he waits for the water to boil and watches steam slowly escaping the kettle, a part of him still struggle to realize that today already marks the official launch of the MCL35. It seems that just a few days ago he was parting ways with his teammate, both of them returning to their respective homes after a tiring season.

A plaintive growl escapes his mouth as he remembers the goal he had set himself to accomplish at the beginning of this winter break : to distract himself enough so he could grow out of the embarrassing crush he had nursed on his teammate for the entirety of the past year.

As he pours the boiling water into a cup and starts to eat his breakfast distractingly, he can only note self-deprecatingly how he failed to gain any hindsight about his own feelings.

Sure, he had a great winter break, one that he used to travel to Dubai, to get back into daily streams on Twitch and to catch up with his family.

However, his mind couldn't stop to go back to the year he spent alongside Carlos.

At first, he tried to pin down exactly what made his attraction toward Carlos so undeniable, but to no avail. At the end of the day, when he thought about Carlos, he could only rely on the sensations that still lingered over his skin, almost as if his teammate had imprinted his presence on him. Even after a month without physically seeing Carlos, Lando could still sense the gentle weight of his teammate's hand on his shoulder whenever he reassured him. It was this gesture and a myriads of others, sometime even more mundane, almost unnoticeable that repeatedly assailed him when he longed for his teammate's company. More often than not, it was the remembrance of the softness of Carlos hands on his neck when the spaniard kept readjusting his suit at every occasion he got that grounded him into a strange melancholia he could not shake himself off. His teammate looked after him, fretted over him for the smallest thing and was inclined to his well-being in a way that fascinated Lando.

And even if Carlos and him still facetimed and texted regularly over the winter break, Lando spent too much of his free time yearning for more.

It was the middle of January when he realized that maybe the feelings that the simple thought of Carlos ignited in himself weren't just due to a small infatuation mixed with a lingering case of hero-worship. This endearment that he felt toward anything Carlos did, this longing that invaded him whenever he thought about how long he still had to wait before they could see each other again, it could only be more than just a simple, tiny crush.

For a few days, he was in a strange place, unable to decipher what was going through his own head after realizing that the more he spent time apart from Carlos, the more he felt strongly about him.

It's Sacha – his best-friend –that allowed him to gain a little bit of perspective to his predicament or to, as Sacha would say it, stop freaking out over it.

For his friend, the solution seemed easy enough. After all Carlos was just a phonecall away and all Lando needed to do was to confess his undying love -Sacha's words once again, not his- for Carlos and they could ride off into the sunset, happily ever after and all that.

Sacha's optimism was a refreshing take on his situation. Yet, he wasn't sure he could believe it when he heard of too many tales of teammates growing too close to each other, too dependent, only to be left being nothing but resentful rivals as the pressure inevitably mounted on them.

So, instead of listening to the advices of his confident, he spent the last weeks of his winter break trying to distract himself as best as he could of the mess that he was unfolding in his head.

He made true of his promise to take up streaming on twitch once again, exercised more regularly than he usually did and invested maybe an excessive amount of energy in decorating every single corners of his new flat.

His mind wasn't cooperating through and almost every day, he was reminded about how much he missed Carlos.

And now, as he hastily finish eating his cereal and makes a beeline to the bathroom before driving to the McLaren Headquarter, he feels a familiar jittery energy take over his body at the prospect of being reunited with his teammate.

He doesn't get much time to reign over his nervous energy, the McLaren press team immediately leading him to the scene of his photoshoot as soon as he parks his car at the headquarter.

To the best of his ability, he tries to hide the hundreds of thoughts that are running through his mind as he poses for the camera. Surprisingly, the photograph seems quite pleased by the picture they took. As he comes back from the small changing room without his racing suit, he notes a familiar figure observing curiously the pictures he took just a few minutes ago.

A litany of « _Holy shit it's Carlos, act cool !_ » echoes repeatedly in his head and yeah, okay he knows he's not winning-material for the most mature pilot of the paddock, but still, that's a new low for him.

Carlos ends up noticing him after tearing his glance from the camera. Lando hopes nobody, especially not Carlos, heard the small giggle he lets out when his teammate's entire face lights up as he approaches him.

«Now Lando, where is that Dubai tan you kept bragging about ? You're as pale as when I saw you in december !» Carlos admonishes with a rapidly forming frown on his face, scrunching his eyes as if he was searching for a lingered trace of his sun-kissed skin.

A sun-kissed skin that only existed through the filter of an app he had downloaded, not that he's going to tell that to Carlos.

Lando's breath hitches at his teammate's hand brushes his neck before he feels himself being engulfed in Carlos strong embrace.

«Missed you...» his teammates says in a low tone that send shiver to his entire body.

They stay pressed against one another for a few precious moments, until their press officer's loud steps make them separate slowly from each other. Lando really hopes the dim light of the studio manages to hide the blush that creeps on his face when he notices that Carlos intense gaze follows his every moves.

The rest of the morning is a hectic series of interviews, meetings and other photoshoots.

Finally, after having a hour of rushed rehearsal for the small section of the car's reveal they would participate in, they wait for the room to fill in and sink comfortably in the front row sofa that they were attributed, their shoulder ridiculously close to each other despite the entire row they have for themselves. Carlos immediately starts whispering conspiratorially to him about the wackiest things their team has got planned for the launch. Lando places his bet on a mime show while Carlos puts his on the launch ending with a tap dancing band to compete with Ferrari's over-the-top launch.

After the small section that involved them directly, they're invited to rejoin their seat and as the room grow darker, a montage reminiscing everybody of the highlight of 2019 is projected on the big screen in front of them.

At first, Lando watches the image of the old car and various images of their team, Carlos and him through 2019 without too much thoughts. Then, maybe it's him falling victim to the efficient combo of the inspirational and somewhat epic classical music playing in the background or it's the slow-mo shots used...Maybe it's just him having a small moment of vulnerability after the stress of not making himself look like a fool as hundreds of thousands of people watched him fumble over the few lines he had to say in the opening of the launch...But seeing Carlos and him on the screen, talking and smiling at each other during interviews they did together and even footage from them around the paddock, in the garage...

It makes him ponder about how many time over the last year he forgot Carlos and him weren't alone whenever they interacted together.

He swallows a lump in his throat as he's forced to remember how off of his depth he often felt during all the shared moment he sees unfold in front of him.

During all those months, Lando didn't know what to do with the intensity that barely hid beneath Carlos gaze. Hell, he didn't know what to do with _himself_ , he still doesn't know to this day. To think another year of _this_ is already starting is a dizzying thought.

«You alright ?»

«Yeah, yeah. Bit strange to see all of that in a video, uh ?» he tries to comment and not let his trouble show.

Carlos keeps looking at him, his eyes glinting with a shine he does not recognize.

«Don't worry. Next year will be even better, you'll see.»

Lando's left hand feels a gentle and warm pressure reach his left hand. He doesn't even need to shift his gaze to know that it's Carlos hand that rest over his now. The gentle heat that starts to spread through every fiber of his being is the only telltale sign he needs.

And as Zak Brown talks and talks about all the specificities of the MCL35, all that Lando can notice is the shy enigmatic smile blooming on Carlos lips, the same one that was often directed at him during last year and that he hardly could decipher. Right now through, he feels like he can understand enough :

Carlos is right.

_Their year will be fantastic._


End file.
